How to Find Old Magazine Back Issues for Free

Find old magazine issues or articles without paying a dime.

If you are trying to do research and want to put your hands on an obscure old magazine back issue, newspaper article, or any journal that's out of print, you may be in luck. It seems like nothing is free these days. But if you live in a city with a decent public library, you may find that you can locate old magazine back issues or newspaper articles for free.

Things You'll Need

• Library card
• Volume and back issue number and year of magazine
• Name of magazine
• Title of magazine article

Instructions

1. Check the public library catalog for the title of the magazine or periodical and search by volume and issue number. Or, check by newspaper title and date. If it's in the stacks or on microfilm, you may not be able to check it out, but you can look at it in the reading room.

2. Even if they don't have the old magazine, journal, newspaper or periodical back issue in its physical archives, you can find most old magazine issues by going through ILL, also known as Interlibrary Loan.

3. Use the catalog request feature to request a copy of the old magazine back issue from archives elsewhere in the country. Be sure to include the exact magazine title, volume, issue number, and article title if you're looking for an out-of-print magazine article. Place your request.

4. You may be able to choose what format you'll receive your back issue or article in. Depending on their policy, you may look at the original magazine issue bound in a hard volume, you may pick up hard copies of the magazine article, you may have hard copies sent to you, or you may receive PDFs of the magazine article via email.

5. Wait the days (sometimes weeks) it takes for the old magazine back issue or article to arrive. If you are viewing the archived article or picking up copies, bring your card.

Tips & Warnings

• It may take some time for them to locate out of print newspaper, magazine and periodical archives. Be patient.

• In some cases, they cannot locate the magazine archives you're seeking, but in many cases they can.

• In some cases, there may be a small charge for the service, or for hard copies of the magazine archives.